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Garry Kimovich Kasparov – Fabiano Caruana

2019 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX; match game 9 (5+5); Saint Louis, September 5, 2019

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Position 372

Usually blitz games should not be regarded as a chess “model”, but this does not apply to 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kimovich Kasparov, who may have lost the match against world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana (29 years younger than him), but he definitely won the creativity score, so as only a young heart could do. 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 f5 3. d4 d6 4. 0-0 Nf6 5. b3 0-0 6. Bb2 Nc7 7. g3. Kasparov has a clear idea on how to develop his cornered Queen, and very probably Caruana would have done right in making the same (with 7. ... g6). 7. ... h6?! 8. Nc2 g5? Black preferred, instead, this “extended fianchetto” that will turn out to be really too compromising. 8. ... g6 was still a lesser evil, although after, for instance, 9. Ne3 White could also claim a powerful advantage. 9. d5! c5? Black ruefully delivers the keys of his castle to White’s dominant Bishops, but he can not regret it, since there weren’t better things to do. 10. Ne3 f4 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. Bxf5 Qg7 13. Qg2 Nce8 14. Kh1 g4 15. Nh4 Qg5 16. Bc1 Nh5 17. Be6+ Kh8 18. Qe4 Kg7 19. Nf5+ Kh8 20. gxf4 Qg6 21. Bb2+ Kh7 22. Rg1 Nef6 23. Bxf6 Rxf6

Kasparov now finishes the game with youthful energy: 24. Rxg4! Rxe6 25. Qxe6 Qxg4 26. Qxh6+ Kg8 27. Rg1 1 : 0.

Even two people who grow up speaking different languages can say the same thing. Photo © Lennart Ootes/Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.